Supposedly, MLB wanted more money than NBCU was willing to pay. I thought Comcast was going to go all out. They've spent the money to upgrade other things at NBCU.

Exactly! Remember about a year ago when the Olympics were up for renewal (I forget when NBC's then existing deal expired), and for a while, it seemed NBCU was on the verge of losing coverage to ABC/ESPN or FOX? That was because NBCU was also reluctant to pay the high price necessary to carry the Olympics.

So far, the NBC Sports Network has been a half-assed attempt, at best. They really should have waited to relaunch Versus until they had more viable programming to counter ESPN.

Fox Sports Net made a huge push by acquiring all the Sports Channel stations in 1996-98, then half assed it with cheap graphics, and low-budget shows and low budget college football and basketball that surrounded the regional games.

Now, we have CBS Sports Network, NBC Sports Network and a possible Fox Sports Network, in addition to all the various regional sports networks? Too many cooks spoil the broth.